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Ai.a UNIVei^.'Ty UBi 



AN ADDRESS 



I'UONOUNfKD BEFORI^ 



THE HOUSK OF CONVOCATION 



®rinitn €olUge. 



BY THE REV. J. M. WAINWRIGHT, D. D 



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(EolUgiate (K^ucatlon. 
AN ADDEESS 

PRONOUNCED BEFORE 

THE HOUSE OF CONVOCATION, 

OP 

TRINITY COLLEGE, 

HARTFORD, 

AUGUST 4th, 1S47. 



BY THE REV. JJ'M: WAINWRIGHT, D. D., 

ASnSTAXT MINISTER OF TRINITY CH/JRCH, NEW YOllK, AND FELLOW OF TRINITY COLUEGE. 



PUBLISHED BY OHDEK OF CONVOCATION. 



HARTFORD: 

PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY & BURNIIAM, 

1847.- 



^3^ 






Edidi qttje potui, non ut volui, sed ut me temporis 
ANGUSTi^ coegerunt. — Cic. dc Orat. Lib. iii. Cap. 61. 



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ADDEESS. 



Mr. Dean, and Gentlemen of the House of Convo- 
cation, 

The statute of the Corporation of Trinity College, 
under the authority of which we are now met together, 
eminently liberal and wise in its inception, appears to me 
already to be giving proof of its beneficial operation. 
Heretofore the literary festival we are about to celebrate, 
has attracted us from our distant homes and various pur- 
suits to testify our respect for this seminary of learning, 
and our sympathy with the young brethren who are to 
receive its honors ; and, at the same time, to enjoy 
amongst ourselves the pleasures of social intercourse. 
But I feel confident that I speak your sentiments when I 
say that we are now drawn hither by an additional and 
even a higher motive ; and that we are prepared to man- 
ifest a much warmer love for Trinity College, and a far 
deeper interest in its welfare than we have ever felt be- 
fore, in consequence of the trust with which we have 
been honored, and in view of the duty which that trust 
calls upon us to discharge. As the House of Convoca- 
tion, we have a distinct being in connexion with the Col- 
lege, and are recognized as having a constituent depart- 
ment in the management of its concerns. We are not, 
indeed, endowed with any positive legislative or execu- 
tive authority, for no such could well be delegated to us ; 
but our advice is solicited upon measures which involve 
the best interests of the institution, and we have every 



I'f 



assurance that our recommendations will receive always 
most respectful consideration from the other house of the 
Senatus Academicus, the Corporation.* 

I anticipate from this new arrangement a very marked 
and quick return of favorable results ; and I cannot but 
congratulate 'jou, gentlemen, and all who have been in- 
strumental in bringing it about, that this important for- 
ward movement in collegiate life in our country can claim 
this institution as its starting place. The sons of this 
college can no longer feel that when they have completed 
the four years of their academic life, and have received 
their first degree in arts, they are then severed from their 
Alma Mater, and that thenceforward nothing more can 
be expected from them than to cherish a grateful recol- 
lection of her. She will not permit them thus to be cut 
loose from her. She solicits them to change the tie of 
discipline and instruction, sometimes perchance painful 
or irksome, into a bond of love, which shall draw them 
frequently to come and revive pleasing and profitable as- 
sociations, and bring with them offerings of filial gratitude. 
Thus the annual return of the commencement season, 
W'hile it will offer to a greater extent even than before, 
the opportunity for social intercourse between the com- 
panions of former days, will become a stated occasion for 
grave conference, and for friendly and truth-finding de- 
bate upon the all-important subject of education. Are 
we over sanguine in the belief that the results of a counsel 
thus gathered from widely distant sections of our land, 
from all the varied pursuits of life, and from the contrasted 
experience of the young and the aged alumnus ; and these 
maturely weighed and modified, if need be, by the upper 

* As this address may possibly fall into the hands of those who are not 
acquainted with Trinity College and its organization, and who may feel 
some interest in knowing about it, I have thought it expedient to put 
into an Appendix, a brief statement, taken from the College Calendar for 
1847. 



house, will redoimd to the honor and usefulness of our 
seminary, and will preserve it from being justly obnox- 
ious to the charge of falling behind the age, or of opposing 
any real and well tested improvement which the spirit of 
the age may suggest ? 

Upon the occasion of the first public meeting of this 
body last year, there could not have been selected a sub- 
ject of discourse more appropriate than the one to which 
your attention was directed.* How fully, clearly, and 
eloquently it was treated, and how great the satisfaction 
and instruction those of us who had the privilege of being 
present derived from it, I need not say. Assembled once 
again as "Christian Scholars,''^ I cannot doubt that we 
are all anxious to discharge, as opportunity may bring 
them up, the various duties which that favored character 
has devolved upon us. Adverting, then, to our new posi- 
tion as members of this Convocation, a prominent duty, 
hej-e and noiv, seems to me to point us to our connexion 
with collegiate life. Our thoughts and conversation at 
our annual gathering beneath these classic shades are 
naturally directed to this class of reminiscences, and 
hence the principles upon which collegiate education and 
discipline should be conducted will as naturally present to 
us a subject for discussion. At least I will venture to say 
that I hope this will follow as one of the signal benefits of 
our organization. 

So impressed am I with the importance of this pros- 
pective result in its happy influence upon the well-being 
of this seminary, and also in exciting inquiry and extend- 
ing knowledge amongst educated men in relation to a 
subject which should be dear to them, that I feel con- 
strained to ofier myself as a humble pioneer to direct 



•The Christian Scholar ; his position, his danger and his duties. An 
Address pronounced before the House of Convocation of Trinity College, 
Hartford, August 5th, 18 10, by Kev. John Williams, M. A., Rector of St. 
George's Church, Schenectady, and a Junior P^ellow of Trinity College. 



4 



your attention to it. It covers a veiy large extent of 
ground, and will require many successive years to occupy 
and improve it in a suitable manner. My allotted task 
would seem to be the simple attempt to clear away some 
obstructions, as a preparation for a higher and more suc- 
cessful culture which is to follow. Expect me, then, and 
permit me, to be somewhat discursive in my remarks 
while I suggest some of those many topics connected Vvith 
the one great subject of collegiate education and disci- 
pline, which I trust will receive from abler and better 
prepared occupants of this place than he who now has 
the honor of addressing you can presume to imagine him- 
self, distinct and adequate examination. 

But that I may not be tempted to wander without a 
definite purpose over too wide a space, I shall direct my 
observations. 

First, to the general state of education, its defects and 
their remedy : and 

Next, to the outline of a plan which may exemplify 
what will thus be put forward as the true idea of a sound 
collegiate education. 

It is a strange fact and one difficult to account for, that 
education, which has ever been held in the highest esti- 
mation by the thoughtful and well informed, should yet 
be so uncertain as to its fundamental principles and its 
practical administration. A distinguished scholar and 
eloquent writer, the late Dr. Thomas Brown, deliberately 
asserted from his Professorial chair in the University of 
Edinburgh, that " the noblest, but, in proportion to its 
value, the least studied of all the arts is the art of educa- 
tion."* Another Professor now filling a high place in the 
city of London, within the present year affirmed that " all 
education has hitherto been and long will be a mixture of 
some truth with more fancy and error."! And an able 

♦ Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human Mind, Lecture IV. 
f Dr. EUiottson, Harveian Oration for 1846. 



^ 



and most earnest writer thus commences his valuable 
treatise upon Popular Education, published only a few 
years since. " It is a matter of deep regret to the first 
men of the age that education has not yet been placed 
upon a practically useful basis. It is felt that it is im- 
perfectly enjoyed even by the educated, utterly withheld 
from the multitude, and not yet systematized either m 
principles or plan."* These are startling declarations, 
and if we are not prepared to admit them m all their 
breadth I fear we shall be constrained to acknowledge 
that they are too near the truth for the satisfaction or 
repose of those who have any charge in directing this 
great instrument of human improvement. 

Perhaps it may help to a better understandmg of these 
assertions and a more ready assent to their truth, if I ask 
mv hearers to make a clear distinction in their minds be- 
Jeen the art of education as such, and the various arts 
and sciences upon which it may be employed. Education 
is not an intimate knowledge of these, or of any one of 
them, although it imphes, and, in order to its successful 
exercise, demands this knowledge. In its own separate 
nature it relates simply to the method of commumcatmg 
in the quickest and most effectual manner to the subject 
of its training, the principles and practice of some art or 
science other than itself. This distinction may tend to 
soothe that intellectual pride so natural to the human 
mind, and which perchance might be offended at the bare 
suggestion that the present generation is not m all respects 
wiser and better off than those which have passed away. 
It will be universally conceded that in many of the de- 
partments of human knowledge, there has ever been a 
gradual, and m some of them, in recent times, a rapid 
and wonderful advancem ent. If this cannot be affirme d 

* Necessity of Popular Education. &c. by James Simpson. 



of literature generally, of the fine arts, or of mental and 
moral philosophy, or what in college phrase are termed 
humaniores literce, there can be no doubt but that in exact 
science, and science as adapted to the arts of life, a mar- 
vellous progress has been made and is still making, in 
consequence of which the family of civilized man now 
enjoys advantages immeasurably greater than those pos- 
sessed by any former generation. But this is not the 
question before us. The point is simply, whether or not 
for centuries past there has been any marked improvement 
in the art of training the faculties of the human intellect, 
and of communicating the literature and science of a par- 
ticular age to the youthful minds of that age.* Is philoso- 
phy, then, better taught now than it was in the lectures of 
the Porch or the Academy ? Is there any where a more 
thorough school for the discipline of rhetoric and oratory 
than that to which the youthful Cicero resorted ? Has 
there yet been a better plan devised, one fuller and more 
judicious in its directions as to the management of the 
child from the first development of the faculty of speech 
to the crowning work of education in the formation of the 
perfect orator, than is to be found in the Institutiones 
Oratorice, of Quintilian ? As to the knowledge of lan- 
guage and appreciation of the beauties of style, no one 
acquainted with the subject, I presume, would assert that 
in any community whatsoever, at present existing, they 
are as thoroughly or widely disseminated as they were at 

* " Though the subject has of late been brought forward, it may with 
confidence be asserted, that the important theory of education has by no 
means kept pace with the improvements which have been made in the 
various departments of science and art, during the last century." Re- 
marks on Scholastic and Academic Education. Part 1st of Phantasm 
OF AN University, by Charles Kelsall, Esq. A fanciful work gotten 
up with great expense of beautiful but impracticable architectural de- 
signs for an University. It contains, however, wise and profitable sug- 
gestions upon the subject of education. 



Athens, when the whole mass of the people was so well 
educated in these respects that not a grammatical error, 
not a defect even of pronunciation could escape detection 
by the very women about the market place.* 

These illustrations, however, must not be pressed be- 
yond their due and prescribed limits. I cannot, I trust, 
be suspected of adducing them in order to raise the slight- 
est doubt of the reality of progressive improvement in 
the social condition of man. " Knowledges manifold,"! 
which either had not sprung into being, or were the jeal- 
ously guarded inheritance of the few, are now freely dis- 
tributed amongst the many. The rights of man are far 
better understood than they have ever been before ; they 
are more safely protected by popular institutions, and the 
physical comforts of man are vastly increased. But no 
one can imagine what would have been his condition at 
this time had the art of education kept an equal pace of 
improvement with many of the other arts of social life, 
and had a true idea of its grand purpose been ever held 
out in prominent view so that all intelligent and benevo- 
lent minds could have w^orked towards one certain and 
well defined object. That it would have been far wiser, 
happier and more peaceful will hardly be denied. Some 
portions of the poet's description of the primitive but 
imaginary age would have found their counterpart in the 
present actual one. 



* The allusion here is to a passage in that delightful classical romance 
Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grcce. It is so long since 1 read it, 
however, that I cannot recur to it. The learned Abbe doubtless had au* 
thority for his assertion, and according to his custom has most probably 
given it at the bottom of his page. But I am reminded of Cicero's state- 
ment to the same effect, — tamen eruditissimos homines Asiaticos quivis 
Atheniensis indoctus, non verbis, sed sono vocis, nee tam bene, quanv 
suaviter loquendo, facile superabit. De Oral. Lib. III. Cap. U. 

t Coleridge. 

2 



10 



^tas, quse, vindice nullo, 
Sponte sua, sine lege, fidem lectumque colcbat. 

Non galeae, non ensis. erant ; sine militis usu 
MoUia securEe petagebant otia gentes.* 

In advancing- an opinion, however, so unfavorable in 
one important respect to an age whicli is accustomed to 
boast itself mightily of great achievements, and which 
certainly has many undeniable reasons for self-laudation, 
I may be excused for seeking to fortify w^hat I assert by 
an appeal to other testimony. I will direct your notice, 
therefore, to one who has discussed this question, and 
others kindred to it, with sagacity, knowledge and a be- 
nevolent zeal, although I cannot sympathize with him in 
all his complaints, or acknowledge that there is value in 
all his suggestions. His work, from which I quote, was 
written for England, and was designed for an exposure of 
the great faults in society existing there ; but the remarks 
which I here offer for your consideration are not less ap- 
plicable to ourselves. " No error is more profound or 
prevalent than the persuasion that we are an educated 
class in the best sense of the term. Our complacent con- 
clusions on the subject are however exceedingly natural. 
Look, it is said, at our libraries, our encyclopedias, teem- 
ing as they do with knowledge in every branch of science 
and literature. See our chemical, mathematical, mechan- 
ical powers, with all their realized results, which seem to 
mould nature at our will and render life proudly luxuri- 
ous. Then turn to our classical literature, our belles let- 
tres, our poetry, our eloquence, our polished intercourse, 
our refined society ; consider our fine arts and elegancies, 
and above all think of our legislation and political econ- 
omy, our institutions of benevolence and justice, and the 
gigantic combinations of our entire national system. 
There is much in these hiffh-soundina: claims that deceives 



* Ovid. Metam. Lib. I. SO. 



■HW 



11 



US. We are prone to l)on-ow from the large fund of credit 
we possess in the exact and physical sciences, to place 
the loan totlie account of universal intellectual and moral 
attainment, and to conclude that a pitch of improvement, 
which enables us to travel thirty miles an hour, must 
comprise in it every thing else of knowledge and power. 
But alas ! when we look beyond the range of physical 
tangibilities, and, it may be, elegant literature, into the 
region of mental and moral relations, in short the science 
of man, upon which depend the wisdom of our legislation, 
and the soundness of our institutions and customs, what 
a scene of uncertainty do we see ! Fixed principles in 
social affairs have not yet been attained. Scarcely shall 
we meet two individuals who are guided by the same 
code . Hence controversy is the business of the moral, and 
assuredly we may add, of the religious world. To engross 
as much wealth, gain as much of what is miscalled dis- 
tinction as our neighbor, and outstrip him in the business 
of life. A catalogue of our defects— all referable to the 
education wherewith we are mocked, might be expatiated 
upon to the extent of a volume."* 

This is certainly a forbidding picture, and drawn with 
a severe pencil, but in the main features delineated, it is 
doubtless a truthful one. It behooves us therefore not to 
turn from it in anger or contempt, but rather to look upon 
it ourselves, and hold it up to others, until we have start- 
led the whole community of thinking men, and especially 
those who have any responsible charge of education, into 
the conviction that the true idea of this art is as yet 
vaguely existing amongst us, and very imperfectly accom- 
plishing its legitimate design. 

Do you seek for the causes of this lamentable deficien- 
cy ? We believe that one of them at least does not he 



' Simpson, Chapter II. 



■ 



12 



very remote, nor is it difficult of detection. If we mis- 
take not it consists in this, that the great and essential 
element in all investigations touching the training of man, 
is most generally either overlooked, or not allowed to 
have its due preponderance. And this element is the real 
nature of man, and the true purpose of his being. No 
system of education can be a wise or successful one, into 
which these all-important considerations do not fully 
enter. The etymology of the word alone, if we would 
attend to it, might lead us to this conclusion. To edu- 
cate is to draw forth or to bring out. To bring out what ? 
Obviously the faculties of our nature — all the faculties of 
our entire nature. To draw out these faculties, then, to 
direct them to their appropriate objects, and, while thus 
training them, to put the subject of education in posses- 
sion of all the knowledge which had been accumulated 
by the generations of men who had gone before, — this 
would constitute a perfect education. But such perfec- 
tion, at least for years to come, we fear, can be contem- 
plated in theory only. We will not however allow it to 
be chimerical to anticipate a much nearer approach to it 
than we now perceive. One obvious fault of the sys- 
tems of education which have had the greatest currency 
amongst men is that the intellectual faculties have been 
in a manner kept distinct from the moral and religious, 
and have too generally been cherished and strengthened 
to their detriment. Now we believe that all the constit- 
uent parts of the one nature of man should be trained in 
happy harmony, and in due subordination to their relative 
importance in accomplishing the great end of his being; 
and we will affirm that the art of education will never be 
placed upon a solid foundation, and be built up in a pro- 
gressive manner as other arts have been, until this truth 
is appreciated and acted on. No one will deny that a 
man whose intellectual faculties have been cultivated to 



13 



the neglect of his moral, will exhibit a character radically 
defective. Furtlierniore, we who take the Gospel of 
Christ as our rule of life, are fully satisfied that no moral 
training can be thorough or secure, which is not fortified 
by religious principle. It is not therefore pure intellect 
alone, or the moral sense, or the religious sentiment, that 
education is intended to draw forth, but all, and all as we 
have said, in subordination to the great end of his being. 

Since I have thought seriously upon this subject, I 
have often admired the wisdom and felt the importance of 
Milton's words in his Tractate upon Education, which, 
although only a letter addressed to a friend, detailing the 
substance of previous conversations held between them, 
is yet worthy the attention and repeated perusal of all 
who are concerned in education. "The end of learning," 
says the great poet, "is to repair the ruin of our first par- 
ents, by regaining to know God aright, and out of that 
knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him as 
we may the nearest by possessing our souls of true virtue, 
which being united to the Heavenly grace of faith, make 
up the highest perfection. But because our understand- 
ing cannot in this body found itself but on sensible things, 
nor arrive as clearly to the knowledge of God and things 
invisible as by orderly conning over the visible and infe- 
rior creature, the same method is to be followed in all 
discreet teaching." 

To the same effect also, although not in a tone so 
Christian like, writes Locke, in a treatise replete with 
valuable practical suggestions for the training of youth. 
" 'Tis virtue then, direct virtue, which is the hard and 
valua])le part to be aimed at in education. All other con- 
siderations and accomplishments should give way and be 
postponed to this. This is the solid and substantial good, 
which tutors should not only read lectures, and talk of ; 
but the labor and art of education should furnish the mind 



14 

with, and fasten them, and never cease till the young man 
had a true relish of it, and placed his strength, his glory 
and his pleasure in it. The more this advances, the easier 
way will be made for other accomplislnnents in their 
turns."* t 

Now it is obvious that what Milton calls the end of 
learning, should be kept in constant view in all systems 
and institutions which profess to promote learning, and 
that so far forth as this end is undervalued or lost sight 
of, such systems or institutions may justly be regarded as 
radically defective. Were this principle to be strictly 
applied, I fear that there are few seminaries of learning 
whose course of instruction and discipline could abide the 
test. An author whom I have before quoted, makes this 
strong and unqualified assertion. " No sect in religion 
has yet addressed itself to the duty of teaching the nature 
of man, the value of pursuits in life, the institutions of 
society, and the relation of all these to the religious and 
moral faculties of man." This condemnation is too sweep- 
ing to be entirely just, and if amongst what he calls sects 
in religion, he includes, as it is probable he does, the 
Church, we might in some few instances be prepared to 

* Locke's Works, Vol. III. page 2G, folio edition. 

f We may learn something of the paramount importance attributed to 
moral training even in heathen Rome, and of tlie mode in which it was 
cared for, by a passage from a chapter of Tacitus, in which he places in 
strong contrast the ancient discipline with the degeneracy of later times. 
♦'Jam primum, suus culque filius, ex casta parente natus, non in cella 
emptse nutricis, sed gremio ac sinu matris educabatur, cujus prajcipua 
laus erat, tueri domum et inservire liberis. Eligebatur autem aliqua 
major natu propinqua, cujus probatis spectatisque moribus omnis cujus- 
piam familiae soboles committeretur, coram qua neque dicere fas erat, 
quod turpe dictu, neque facere, quod inhonestum factu videretur. Ac 
non studia mode curasque, sed remissiones etiam lususque puerorum 
sanctitate quadam acverecundia temperabat 

HiEcdisciplina ac severitas eo pertinebat, ut sinceraet integra etnullis 
pravitatibus detorta uniuscujusque natura toto statim pectore arriperet 
artes honestas." — De Oratoribus Dialogus, § 28. 



15 



appeal from it.* But this we are constrained in sorrow 
and humiliation to affirm again, that notwithstanding all 
that has been said, written, and attempted in relation to 
education, the true idea of it is as yet imperfectly received 
amongst men, and unsuccessfully carried out in places 
assigned to it. The true idea is that religion is "the 
King's daughter, all glorious within, whose clothing is of 



*In justice to my Iricnd, the Rfv. Dr. Muhlenbera;, I must here state 
that he was one of the first, if, as I believe to be the fact, he was not the 
very first amongst us to advocate the cause of Christian Education accord- 
ing to a positive form both in I'aith and worship. And at great sacrifice 
of time and toil and property, (if indeed tliat can be called sacrifice which 
has been cheerfully as well as conscientiously and with a successful re- 
sult devoted to so good a work) he has sought to carry out his grand prin- 
ciple. Upon this basis the Flushing Institute was founded in 1S29, which 
has since become St. Paul's College, now under the Rectorship of Mr. 
J. G. Barton, one of Dr. M.'s earliest pupils. From this as a root have 
sprung St. James's College and St. Timothy's Hall, Maryland, respect- 
ively under the charge of the Rev. John B. Kerfoot and the Rev. Liber- 
tus Van Bokkelcn, pupils also of Dr. M. — all imbued with his principles. 
And now under the auspices, and through the enlightened zeal and un- 
tiring labors of my friend of many years, the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of New 
Jersey, Burlington College is wisely and securely laying the foundation 
of an institution to be built up on the same true principle. These Sem- 
inaries of learning are all by the Church, in the Church, and /or the 
Church. But for the Church in no narrow sectarian intention. " I wish 
it to stand," says Bishop Doane of Burlington College, *' no longer than 
its best exertions shall be made for every real interest of man. I desire 
God to bless it no longer than it shall be true to our whole country, and 
true to all mankind. I scorn the shield, however proud its blazonry 
may be, which does not bear the blessed scroll to every wind of heaven : 
Pro ecclesia, pro patria, pro gciiere hvmniio — For the church, the 
COUNTRY AND ALL HUMAN KTND." May the Spirit of this motto ever 
pervade all Church seminaries of learning ! There are, in other Dioceses, 
Colleges and Schools, which profess the same great principle, but I speak 
of those only in this note of which I have some personal knowledge, and 
I have spoken at all to this point only for the purpose of bearing my hum- 
ble testimony to the long and faitiiful labors and large pecuniary sacrifices 
of my friend, devoted to sustaining a principle of education which I trust 
will ere long be universally acknowledged and acted on by the Church. 



1 




16 

wrought gold,"* and the virgins that do follow her are the 
arts and sciences, and as her inferiors they should attend 
upon and minister unto her, and are sufficiently honored 
in being permitted to enter with her into the King's house. 
But how do they on numberless occasions lose their mod- 
est demeanor, and forget their place, and one or another 
as the case may be, strive for preeminence, not only 
amongst themselves, but over their sacred and queenly 
mistress ; who, if not treated with absolute neglect and 
banished their company, is looked upon as patronized by 
their notice, and as depending upon them for protection, 
and almost even a being. 

Friends of truth and righteousness, of sound learning 
and Christian education, it is for us to vindicate her rights 
by restoring her to her disputed sovereignty, and giving 
her the chief place of honor and of influence wherever 
youthful minds are to be trained. An arduous underta- 
king, I acknowledge, and one that for its accomplishment 
will demand on the part of the many faithful hearts and 
minds that must be engaged in it, consummate prudence, 
and untiring zeal and patience under disappointment, op- 
position and delay. It cannot be accomplished in all 
places at once, nor in every community with equal facil- 
ity and success. But it is a work which at some day shall 
most assuredly be triumphant, for it is the purpose of Him 
who hath determined that "the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord as the w^aters cover the sea."t 
And being his purpose, he has committed its execution to 
those three institutions which he has appointed as the 
visible representations of his economy on earth, the Fam- 
ily, the State, and the Church. When it shall come to 
pass that these three work together with common intelli- 
gence, upon a common principle of mutual support, and 
with a common reference to one great law and its sanc- 

* Psalm XLV, 13. f Isaiah, xl. 9. 



17 



tions, the Gospel of Christ, then will the true idea of edu- 
cation be universally recognized, and its benign influence 
be felt, and each rising generation shall succeed to greater 
measures of knowledge, virtue, prosperity and happiness 
than their fathers enjoyed. 

But these abstract and speculative, and, as they may 
be termed by some, fanciful reflexions, are in danger of 
leading me into the region of topics which cannot be fully 
or satisfactorily treated within the limits which I must 
prescribe to myself on the present occasion. 

I may however venture to occupy your attention a little 
longer while I attempt, as was proposed in the second 
place, to give the outline of a plan which shall be a prac- 
tical exemplification of the true idea of education that has 
now been affirmed, though by no means fully elaborated. 
This idea demands that all the faculties of the one nature 
of man should be trained with a view to his restoration, 
as far as may be, to that Divine image in which he was 
originally created ; and as the religious sentiment consti- 
tutes his distinguishing and most important faculty, this 
mu.st be cherished whatever else be neglected, and in due 
subordination to it must all the other faculties be cultiva- 
ted. Now the problem is so to connect this idea with a 
collegiate institution, as to make it the life principle 
thereof. This can be accomplished as I can conceive, 
only in one way ; by the authority and with the aid 
OF the Church of Christ on earth. As the religious 
sentiment has been committed by Him who made man 
and knew what was in him to the charge of this Church, 
and as for this purpose he has endowed the Church with 
a ministry and sacraments and the custody of the Holy 
Oracles of wisdom, it is impossible for the Church to trans- 
fer her responsibihty to any other institution, and more 
especially to one of acknowledged human origin. She 
may make use of means devised by human wisdom, to 
3 




18 

facilitate the great object, b\it she cannot divest herself of 
its charge. The college, then, should be the Church's 
institution, founded under her auspices, built up under the 
influence of her prayers, and by the help of her offerings, 
and having its whole course of instruction and internal 
police devised and carried on in accordance with her 
spirit. Here religion will be the chief object of notice, 
and the source of all healthful discipline. It will be the 
central hght and the attractive power, and around it the 
arts and sciences Avill be made to move in their due order 
and relation, acknowledging this as the revealer of their 
beauties and utilities, the source of their warmth and life, 
and the great regulator of their beneficent combinations 
and mutual influences. And furthermore believing that 
religion can thus subsist and maintain this steady and 
uniform action only in the manifestation of some positive 
form both of faith and worship, and that all attempts to 
reach this object under the vague statement of such fun- 
damentals as all may agree in, have heretofore proved 
and for ever must prove futile, the Church should dictate 
the articles of faith and direct the mode of worship. The 
collegiate year too should be the Church's year — its move- 
ments, its succession of seasons, its weeks of work and 
weeks of rest, its holy-days, joyous festivals, and self- 
denying fasts, all going on in well known rotation, all 
tending to Him who is the fountain of knowledge, of order 
and of love, and seeking to make his blessed life on earth 
the exemplar of its own. And all this may be devised 
and should be carried out in the spirit of Christian love, 
and in the exercise of an enlarged tolerance. While the 
sons of the Church should be encouraged and exhorted to 
observe her godly discipline, to frequent her inner courts 
and assist at her high solemnities, kindly provision should 
be made for " proselytes of the gate," who may be drawn 
hither, and full liberty of faith and worship be conceded 
to them. 



19 



This great principle, moreover, of putting a seminary 
of learning under the direct influence of a distinctive faith 
and worsliip, W'hich I would contend for as right and true 
in the abstract, I would willingly see adopted and exem- 
plified by those who hold different views of religious truth 
from myself. And I honestly believe that were such the 
avowed policy of all the colleges in this land, as in fact in 
some of them it is the operative policy, it would be better 
for the cause of religion and learning, and for that too 
Avhich is so much talked of and lauded at the present day, 
a comprehensive liberality. That unhappy jealousy which 
now" so often manifests itself in the management of our 
seminaries of learning, lest one set of religious opinions 
should obtain a more preponderating influence than anoth- 
er, would disappear. Each resting quietly upon its owti 
acknowdedged and distinctive character, the greatest in- 
ternal obstacle to concentrated and harmonious action 
would be removed, and thenceforward the different col- 
leges in the land would be excited only to a generous 
rivalry as to which should most faithfully fulfill the great 
designs of their institution. As to the fear that seminaries 
of learning so constituted would become nurseries of bigot- 
ry and fanaticism, I believe it to be entirely groundless. 
Such a result, wheresoever it should manifest itself, would 
only prove a woful misapprehension of the true spirit of 
the Gospel, or a wretchedly narrow cultivation of the 
liberal arts and sciences.* 

But again, in exhorting the church to assume a greater 
weight of the responsibility which partly belongs to her, 
and. in pleading for her restoration to her ancient privi- 
leges in this respect, I am very far from wishing to become 
the advocate of priestly rule. He must have been a very 
superficial or a very prejudiced reader of ecclesiastical 

• Adde, quod ingenuas didicisse fidelitcr artes, 
EmoUit mores, nee sinit esse fcros. 

Ovid Ex. Pont. Lib. II. Epist. IX. 



20 




m 



history who is not aware of the evils to which pure reli- 
gion and sound learning and progressive science have all 
been subjected from this source. In the present age, and 
under our happy constitution of government, giving pre- 
cedence to no religious persuasion, but conceding equal 
rights to all, there can be no just apprehension of such 
danger. And moreover in a church organized as is our 
own, where the laity have a voice potential in our coun- 
cils, all tendency to sacerdotal domination would be re- 
pressed as soon as discovered. 

This principle too, which we advocate, and which we 
w^ould see carried out to its rightful results, is no newly 
started theory. It was the foundation principle of the 
oldest and most renowned seminaries of the land. Har- 
vard College was established upon it, and the spirit and 
intention of the founders of that noble institution still 
speak forth in the language of the motto of its public 
seal. And what is not a little remarkable, the successive 
changes in this motto seem to manifest the progress of 
truth in the gradual development of a sound principle. 
First it was " Veritas" simply.* To this divine but ab- 
stract idea, was the institution as it were, consecrated. 
But we may imagine some Pilate demanding in contempt- 
uous skepticism, "What is truth?"! The wise and holy 
men who controlled the destinies of the college could not 
hesitate for an instant in their reply. The truth which 
they would confess alone to be such, and the truth which 
they exclusively would teach was " In Christi gloriam." 
This then displaced the vague generality. But it soon 
was felt that as the chief glory of Christ upon earth was 
manifested in his church, with his blessed name there 
should be associated that of his beloved and acknowledg-ed 
spouse, and "Christo et Ecclesise" was emblazoned on 

* See President Quincy's History of Harvard College, Vol. I., p. 49. 
t John xviii. 38. 



21 

the honored shield. And always and every where may 
the spirit of this motto riixhtJy understood, sanctify the 
fouutuius of human learning- and make them as 

" Siloa's brook that tlow'd 
Fast by the oracle of God.'"* 

The next born sister of New England, younger in years 
but not perhaps inferior in literary labors and renown, 
sprang into being under the same holy impulse. The 
preamble of the Charter of Yale College proclaims as the 
leading motive of its establishment, " a sincere regard to 
and zeal for upholding and propagating of the Christian 
Protestant religion, by a succession of learned orthodox 
men,"t and the very first act of the Trustees under this 
Charter was to take order for the religious education of its 
students. 

This idea of the sacred and indissoluble connexion 
between religion and learning thus recognized in the earli- 
est and most successful attempts to establish education 
firmly on our soil, by the civil and religious fathers of 
New England, was by them brought from the Universities 
of their native land, in which so many of them had been 
taught, and for wdiich they ever cherished deep veneration 
and love. That it is there still watcbed and guarded 
with holy zeal as the ark of their safety we know, and 
may no want of wisdom or of vigilance within, and no 
sacrilegious violence from without, ever wrest it from 
them. 

The church, then, we affirm to be the appropriate 
guardian and guide of education ; and with all who be- 
lieve that God has given to man such an institution, what- 
ever views they may respectively hold of its essential form, 
this should be received not as a proposition to be proved 
but as an axiom of truth. 

♦ Milton. t Baldwin's History of Yale College, p. 13, 21. 



22 



Having thus in our imaginary plan named the sub- 
stance and sketched the form of the foundation we would 
lay, let us look briefly at the principles by which we would 
raise the superstructure. 

A collegiate or liberal education, as it is termed, stands 
between an elementary and a professional one, having an 
important influence upon both, but requiring to be kept, so 
far as practicable, distinct from either. To the one it is 
in the place of a parent, to the other in that of a child. 
To elementary education it is a parent, as having brought 
forth and nourished all the processes by which it is con- 
ducted. Were it not for the higher education, the lower 
could never have been advanced to its present condition. 
Those therefore who look with jealousy upon our colleges, 
who contend against the expediency of affording them 
liberal endowments under the pretence that it is favoring 
the few at the expense of the many, and who are liberal 
in their views of expenditure towards common schools, as 
being for the benefit of the people, whde they stint our 
colleges, and in some instances would deprive them even 
of their present resources, betray a lamentable ignorance 
of the true pohcy of administering the educational system 
of a community. Did they apply to this question enlarged 
and intelhgent views, they would at once perceive that 
there is no more effectual method of improving common 
schools and elevating the mass of the people in knowledge, 
than by enlarging the means of collegiate education. In 
a country blessed with free institutions as ours is, it is im- 
possible to advance one class of the community in know- 
ledge and virtue at the expense of the others. There is a 
reciprocal action constantly going on among them. The 
higher the grade of instruction given in our colleges, the 
more surely its effects, flowing down through those who 
are educated in them, and who mingle afterwards with 
their fellow citizens in all the offices of social life, will be 



23 



:! 



/ 



felt in the improved condition of the common schools. 
And asi^ain, in projtortion as the common schools are bet- 
ter taiiglit, the academics and classical schools will rise in 
the scale of improvement, and the preparatory studies for 
collpo-e in these being; wider and more thorough, the terms 
of admission into our colleges may be extended, and of 
course their whole scheme of study be made to embrace 
a wider range. But abolish colleges or institutions for 
higher learning, or cramp them in their efforts for im- 
provement, and the deleterious influence will be felt 
through all grades of seminaries of learning, down to the 
very primary schools for training the infant mind. 

As the influence of the college, rightly directed, should 
be to foster and expand all the educational institutions 
which in regular gradation descend from it, so its actual 
system of discipline and instruction should be a rigid pre- 
paration for professional studies or the pursuits of adult 
years. Therefore in a college which would exemplify the 
true idea of education, many departments of learning 
should be cultivated, which though not to be directly em- 
ployed in professional life, have yet an important bearing 
upon its success. There has been a tendency in some of 
our higher seminaries of learning, to relax the ancient 
system of scholastic discipline by encouraging what are 
called partial courses of instruction, through an undue 
anxiety to gratify the utilitarian spirit of the age, and to 
hasten forward the young aspirants towards their respect- 
ive permanent pursuits in life. Hence often, classical 
studies, and general philosophy, and even pure matheiTiat- 
ics are not honored, encouraged and promoted as they 
should be. The demand is for such particular studies 
and such an extent alone of familiarity with them, as may 
be made instantly and obviously available ; and by yield- 
ing to this demand, encouragement is given to superficial 
education, and the very end proposed, that of making well 




24 

informed and efficient practical men for the varied uses 
of social life, is thus seriously interfered with. 

This however is not a recent evil, nor one fostered, as 
some might suppose, by our pecviliar institutions, for 
Lord Bacon detects it and thus reproves it : "If any man 
thinke Philosphy and Universality to bee idle studies ; he 
doth not consider that all Professions are from thence 
served, and supplyed. And this I take to bee a great 
Cause that hath hindered the progression of learning, be- 
cause these fundamental knowledges have been studied 
but in passage. For if you will have a tree bear more 
fruit than it hath been used to do, it is not any thing you 
can do to the boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth, 
and putting new moulde about the Rootes, that must 
worke it."* In a subsequent age, and one much nearer 
to our own times, another distinguished scholar, and able 
writer, was led to remark upon the same unhappy ten- 
dency in seminaries of learning to slight scholastic studies 
in eagerness to engage in professional ones. His earnest 
words addressed to the students of the universities of our 
mother-land, but equally worthy of our attention, I am 
glad to rescue from a note in an almost forgotten book. 
" I would call the rising youth of this country to the in- 
tense, and frequent, and unremitting study of the ancient 
classical writers as their primary choice. I call upon 
them to have the courage to be ignorant of many subjects, 
and many authors, at their inestimable age. I exhort 
them affectionately, as a matter of the most serious im- 
portance, never to pretend to study, in their first academ- 
ical years, what they design as the ultimate end of their 
labors, I mean, their profession. Their whole business is 
to lay the foundation of knowledge, original, sound, and 
strong. They who, by a patient continuance and undi- 
verted attention to academical studies alone, have sought 

* Of the Advancement of Learning. The Second Booke. 



25 



for the original materials of science and of solid fame, 
have seldom failed in their great pursuit."* The leading 
point to which I wish to direct attention in this eloquent 
passage, is its enforcement of the necessity of making the 
course of collegiate studies strictly and thoroughly pre- 
paratory. I sympathize with the author in his warm ap- 
proval of classical studies, but I am by no means prepared 
to recommend them, as he seemingly does here, to the 
exclusion of mathematical and philosophical pursuits as 
a disciiiline of the mind. The comparative merits of the 
two in this regard, is a question, we know, long mooted 
and still unsettled. I do not design however to obtrude 
myself into this discussion. Had I even the presumption 
to suppose myself capable of throwing any additional 
light upon it, I would not consent to treat it in so per- 
functory a manner as would be necessary at this period 
of my address. I may venture nevertheless to say, in 
passing, that the peculiar benefit of classical or mathe- 
matical studies, considered as intellectual gymnastics, 
must after all be decided by a careful reference to the 
idiosyncracy of the mind that is to be placed under disci- 
pline. Sir John Herschel, in treating of this question, 
has well observed that " there are minds which though 
not devoid of reasoning powers, yet manifest a decided 
inaptitude for mathematical studies— minds which are 
estimative not calculating, and which are more impressed 
by analogies, and by apparent preponderance of general 
evidence in argument than by mathematical demonstra- 



♦ Pursuits of Literature, page 261 American edition. This powerful 
satirical poem, with its learned, copious, and much amusing notes, wor- 
thy the attentive perusal of all who are engaged in the higher depart- 
ments of teaching, has been sometimes ascribed to Gifford, and is so by 
Watt in his Bibliotheca. But it contains internal evidence in sundry 
places to the contrary. Matthias is now, I believe, the acknowledged 
author. 




26 

tion, M^here all argument is on one side, and no show of 
reason can be exhibited on the other."* 

This fact, then, will have its full influence in every well 
devised scheme of education, and while the subject of 
college training- and the candidate for college honors 
will not be allowed to be ignorant of the chief classical 
writers in Latin and Greek, and of the general principles 
of mathematics and their applications, the degree of at- 
tention to be given to these studies respectively will be 
measured by the intellectual faculties which s^all be 
manifested by each student. 

But while thus, according to our idea of collegiate edu- 
cation, an unremitting attention should be given to stud- 
ies the chief objects of which are intellectual discipline 
and what we may call preparatory knowledge, there are 
other branches of knowledge which must not be neg- 
lected, — ^branches which are more immediately called 
into requisition in social life, and without a competent 
acquaintance with which no one can be esteemed thorough- 
ly educated. 

The present distinguished master of Trinity College, 
Cambridge, in his admirable treatise upon a liberal edu- 
cation, has very happily distinguished between the two, 
and described them as Permanent and Progressive Studies. 
" To the former belong those portions of knowledge 
which have long taken their permanent shape ; ancient 
languages with their literature, and long established demon- 
strated sciences. To the latter class belong the results of 
the mental activity of our own times ; the literature of our 
own age, and the sciences in which men are making pro- 
gress from day to day. The former class of subjects 
coimects us with the past ; the latter with the present and 



* Views on Scientific and General Education, by Sir John Herschel, 
F. R. S., M. A., as quoted in Newman's translation of Huber on the 
English Universities, Vol. II. part II. p. 645. 



27 



the future. By the former class of studies, each rising 
generation, in its turn, learns how former generations 
thought, and felt, and reasoned, and expressed their 
thoughts, and feelings, and reasonings. By the latter 
class of studies, each generation learns that thought, and 
feeling, and reasoning, are still active, and is prepared to 
take a share in the continuation and expression of this 
activity. Both these kinds of studies give man a con- 
scious connexion with his race. By the former he be- 
comes conscious of a past, by the latter, of a present, hu- 
manity."* 

In these progressive studies we include those which 
treat of the nature and propensities of man as developed 
in the history of nations and the biography of individuals; 
the constitutions of human society including our respon- 
sibilities to individuals and to the community of which we 
are members ; the general principles of political economy 
and of jurisprudence ; the nature and constitution of the 
earth we inhabit — its animal, vegetable, and mineral pro- 
ductions, and their uses and propensities as subservient 
to human wants ; and the relation of this earth to the 
system of the Universe as manifested in the sublime dis- 
coveries of modern astronomy. Amongst these studies 
those which bring into view the social relations of man 
are obviously of the highest importance, especially in a 
country where free institutions are the blessed birthright 
of the people, and where every man is called to the re- 
sponsible duty of protecting them by his vote, and often 
to the more responsible duty of managing them by being 
made the depository of legislative, judicial or executive 
power. As to the studies which are embraced under the 
general head of Natural Science, they are not only of 



* Of a Liberal Education in general ; and with particular reference to 
the leading studies of the University of Cambridge. By William Whe- 
well, D. D., Master of Trinity College, and Professor of Moral Philoso- 
phy in the University of Cambridge. Chapter I., Sec, I., p. 7. 



28 



m 



m 



deep interest in themselves, as exciting and gratifying an 
intelligent curiosity, but they prefer higher claims upon 
our attention. " Natural science, when pursued with a 
right spirit, will foster the reasoning powers, and teach 
us knowledge fitted at once to impress the imagination, 
to bear on the business of life, and to give us exalted 
views of the universal presence and unceasing power of 
God."* 

Thus it will be seen that in unfolding our idea of a 
sound collegiate education, while we would have the 
principal attention given to the religious and moral fac- 
ulties, and then to the training of the intellectual powers, 
we would also aim at as extensive a knowledge as can be 
grasped and conveyed in an elementary course, of the 
actual system and laws of nature, both physical and 
moral, and the means of adapting this system and these 
laws to the elevation of man's social condition. When 
judiciously and faithfully administered, the benign ten- 
dency of such education will be to bring out all the fac- 
ulties of the youth who is placed under its direction ; 
those that are w^eak in fibre will be strengthened by ap- 
propriate exercises ; those that have marked developments 
will be trained to graceful and appropriate movements ; 
amongst those that threaten irregular action from want 
of a just counterpoise, the balance will be restored ; and 
thus while the chief hope and effort will be to make " the 
man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works,"t there will be no neglect of means or exertion 
to make the intellectual man symmetrical and strong, 
fitted to encounter all that he may be exposed to in the 
combat of life. 

But when I speak of the combat of life, and of the 



« A Discourse on the Studies of the University, by Adam Sedgwick, 
M. A., F. 11. S., and Woodwardian Professor, and Fellow of Trinity Col- 
lege, Cambridge. Appendix p. 155. 

t II. Timothy, III. 17. 



29 

intellectual training that is essential to entering into it 
with a reasonable prospect of success, I am reminded 
that there is another constituent part of man which de- 
mands, though not to an equal degree, the superintend- 
ing care of education ; and this is his physical constitu- 
tion. Were I to say that its healthful or diseased condi- 
tion exerts a very powerful and obvious influence, not 
only upon the comfort of his daily life, but upon the 
growth of his intellectual, moral, and even rehgious facul- 
ties, I should be only repeating what has been said a 
thousand times over upon that trite theme, " mens sanain 
corpore sano'' But yet I will ask, has this subject re- 
ceived by any means the attention its importance de- 
mands ? From all I can learn and have observed, it is 
treated with greater neglect amongst us, both by educa- 
ted men and youth in the process of education, than 
amongst any other civihzed people. Whether it be from 
the effect of climate, or from some pecuharity of consti- 
tution, I know not, but the fact is certain that our young 
men, in colleges especially, are too little disposed to take 
that amount of exercise which is absolutely needful for 
health. The consequence is that we have a larger pro- 
portion of feeble and sickly students, and of men break- 
ing down in the early stages of professional life, than is 
found in other countries. How different the habits of 
English college life are, let me show by adducing the tes- 
timony of a scholar who, after spending a portion of his 
time in one of the chief and the most populous of our 
American colleges, passed several years in the University 
of Cambridge. " There is one great point where the 
English have the advantage .over us : they understand 
how to take care of their health. Every Cantabrigian 
takes his two hours exercise per diem, by walking, 
riding, rowing, fencing, gymnastics, &c. How many 
colleges are there here where the students average one 
hour a day of real exercise ? In New England the last 



I 



n 



d' 



30 



thing thought of is exercise — even the mild walks which 
are dignified with the name of exercise, how unlike the 
Cantabrigian's constitutional of eight miles in less than 
two hours ! And the consequence is — what ? There is 
not a finer looking set of young men in the world than 
the Cantabs, and as to health — why, one hundred and 
thirty freshmen enter at Trinity every year, and it is no 
unfrequent occurrence that, whatever loss they may sus- 
tain from other causes, death takes away none of them 
during the three years and a half which comprise their 
undergraduate course."* 

Now what remedy can be proposed for the mitigation 
or the cure of this acknowledged evil ? Compulsory 
measures are of course out of the question. Discipline 
which it may be highly expedient to apply under certain 
circumstances for the quickening of mental effort, could 
answer no good purpose in this relation. All that can be 
done then, is to enforce the necessity for bodily exer- 
cise upon our students, and supply them with suitable 
facihties for its practice. We learn that this has been 
attempted in some of our literary institutions by means 
of farms and workshops. I would by no means under- 
value such attempts — on the contrary, in carrying out 
the system now suggested, I would propose that space of 
ground, and opportunity, for horticulture, if not agricul- 
ture, should be furnished for all those who felt drawn to 
these health-giving and useful pursuits, and that accom- 
modation also should be supplied for those who in the in- 
clement season of winter would seek for exercise by the 
saw, the hammer, or the turning lathe. But still I am 
not utilitarian enough to despise plays which are nothing 
more than plays ; and which on account of the greater 
relaxation of the mental powers they induce, the freer 
use of all the muscles they occasion, and the joyousness 

* American Review, Vol. V. p. 354. 



31 

of spirits they excite, I should prefer for students to play- 
ing at farming or trades. I would encourage, then, the 
bail ground, the cricket field, and the boat race, and re- 
joice to see on classic soil, sports that should recall the 
graphic descriptions of the classic page. 

For example, on occasions like the present festival 
week, in order to exhibit what improvements the physical 
exercise of a year had produced, I would be reminded of 
the boat race, the poet's animated description of which 
even school boys must remember. 

Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remis, 
Quatuor, ex omni dilectae, classe,carinee. 

Vir. JEneid. V. 114. 

Then when all are ready, the active youths 

Considunt transtris intentaque brachia remis : 
Intentique expectant signum, exultantiaque haurit 
Corda pavor pulsans, laudumque arrecta cupido. 

Xneid. V. 136. 

Nor amidst the beautiful scenery which surrounds yon- 
der favored spot, and recalls to us the Elysian fields, 
would it be displeasing to see them occasionally animated 
with Elysian sports. 

Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris ; 
Contendunt ludo, et fulva luctantur arena. 

^neid. VI. 042. 



And the consequence would be, that, were athletic ex- 
ercises like these encouraged and practised as a stated 
relaxation from hard study, and were the fields and groves, 
the sliady walks, and breezy hills, and rii)pling and run- 
ning waters, associated with a healthful, vigorous and 
joyous existence, the memory of a college hfe would in- 
deed be as that of an Elysian abode, and the words which 



n 



d 



32 

precede my last quotation would well describe the happy- 
haunts of a well spent youth. 

Devenere locos latos, et amoena vireta, 
Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas. 
Largior hie campos aether et lumine vestit, 
Purpureo ; solemque suum, sua sidera norunt. 

Virgil, JEn. VI. 638. 

But gentlemen, it is time to bring this already too long, 
and I fear too discursive address, to its end. I have.ven- 
tured to speak thus much and thus in detail upon a sub- 
ject, which, how trite soever, can never lose its interest 
with those who watch and wish, and labor and pray, as I 
trust we all do, for the progress of man in the better 
training of the rising generation. I decided to attempt 
the treatment of this subject after much hesitation, not 
however in consequence of any distrust of the principles I 
should maintain, or the measures I should propose, but 
through fear that the inability of the advocate might injure 
the cause, and that I might subject myself, disconnected 
as I am with the administrative care of education, to the 
charge of presumption in assuming the position of an 
adviser. As a Fellow of Trinity College, however, 
I have felt that I had a responsible duty to discharge, 
and as a member of the House of Convocation, and one of 
the older members, I have been not unwilling to take the 
responsibihty of setting the example of trying to make 
this a place of trust. 

Certainly, gentlemen, we who have the honor of be- 
longing to this House of Convocation, if we would not 
unworthily content ourselves with enjoying an empty dis- 
tinction, should feel it to be incumbent upon us, each in 
his degree, and according to his ability and opportunity, 
to contribute something for the advancement of this sem- 
inary of learning with which we are associated. I have 
not intended, nor could I have the presumption, to find 



■»- 



33 

fault with the general system of instruction and disci})line 
that has heen pursued here, and which is substantially 
the same with that |-hich })revails in all the higher sem- 
inaries of learning in our country. Under the faithful 
labors of the able officers Avho have now and who have 
heretofore had the responsible management of Trinity 
College, the results, taking into view the hmited numbers 
of those who have been induced to resort here for educa- 
tion, are such as its founders and patrons have full reason 
to be satisfied with ; and following the subsequent career 
of those who have graduated at this institution, the Church, 
which finds them constituting one twelfth of those who 
serve at her altars, must gratefully acknowledge that it 
has not existed or labored in vain. 

Much then has been accomphshed for which we should 
render our devout thanks to the Almighty, " whose inspir- 
ation giveth man understanding." But the friends of 
Trinity College must not content themselves with this. 
Their constant thought in relation to this place of educa- 
tion must be of progress, and their zealous efforts must be 
stirred up to promote those wise measures which shall 
secure progress. 

Can any thing then be proposed in conformity with the 
principles which have thus imperfectly been set forth, 
which may tend to give a fuller development to the true 
idea of education, in that institution to which we owe our 
allegiance, under whose auspices we are assembled, and 
for whose welfare we are to consult and advise ? This, 
gentlemen, is a question for your decision ; were I to ad- 
vance any farther into the detail of proposed alterations, 
you might then justly accuse me of presumption. I may 
observe, however, that one principle for which I have con- 
tended, has been to a certain extent carried out here. In 
the address of last year it was stated that " this principle 
has been recognized and has found expression in the giv- 
5 



n 



I 



34 

ing to our college as her name henceforward through all 
time, the thrice sacred name of the most blessed Trinity." 
Previously she bore an honored i^me, — none in my 
judgment worthy of higher earthly distinction. And so 
far forth as that name called upon the sons of Washing- 
ton College to emulate the wisdom, the prudence, the 
high morality, and the noble patriotism of him who will 
eA'Cr stand the very first upon the page of his country's 
history, and amongst the chief of the great and good on 
that of the world's history, it was an influential as well as 
an honored appellation. But in view of the name by 
which our college is now called, all earthly distinctions 
and the emulation of the most exalted human virtues sink 
to nothing and less than nothing. Dedicated to the Holy 
Trinity, all who are connected with this seminary should 
feel that they are pledged to the service of the Triune 
God, and that every department of learning, here taught, 
is to be made subservient to extending the faith and wor- 
ship of God the Father who made man, G od the Son who 
redeemed him, and God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies 
him. May His blessing ever rest upon all these and upon 
all who shall pray and vow in its behalf — " Peace be 
within thy walls and plenteousness within thy palaces. 
For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will wish thee 
prosperity. Yea, because of the house of the Lord our 
God, I will seek to do thee good." Psalm cxxii. 7-9. 



APPENDIX. 

Extract from tlic College Calendar. 



Trinity College, Hartford, is an academic Society, of which 
the control is vested in a Corporation, known in law by the style 
or title of The Trustees of Trinity College. 

The design of a College in New England, connected with the 
church of the mother country, and so far as possible modelled after 
its celebrated universities, originated with the excellent Berkeley, 
Bishop of Cloyne, who with this view purchased an estate, and 
resided for some time in Rhode Island. Though he was compelled 
reluctantly to relinquish his project, it was nevertheless not entirely 
without fruits. To his example and benefactions may be traced 
much of that interest in sound learning and Christian education 
which led to the first efforts for the establishment of a similar insti- 
tution in Connecticut. 

A Convocation of the Clergy of the Diocese, held in 1792, under 
Seabury, first Bishop of Connecticut, took the primary steps to- 
wards establishing the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire; and this, 
though incorporated with limited privileges, was intended as the 
foundation for a higher institution, so soon as a charter conferring 
full collegiate powers could be obtained Irom the State. It was 
often styled, fiimiliarly. The Seabury College. 

Bishop Brownell, who succeeded to the Episcopate in 1819, was 
enabled very shortly to perfect these designs. The charter of 
Wa.^hington College was granted in 1823 ; and in the following 
year the institution was opened at Hartford, under the presidency 
of the Bishop. 

In 1815, by permission of the Legislature, the name of the College 
was changed to its present style, to attest forever the faith of ita 
founders, and their zeal for the i)erpetual glory and honor of the 
One Holy and Undivided Trinity. 



36 

To this brief History must be added some account of the internal 
organization and condition of the College. 

Tiie Senatus Academicus consists of two liouses. Icnown as the 
CoRPORATio.N and the House of Convocation. 

The Corporation, on which the other house is wholly dependent, 
and to which, by law, belongs the supreme control of the College, 
consists of not more than twenty-four Trustees, resident within 
the State of Connecticut ; the President of the College being ex 
officio one of the number, and president of the same. They have 
authority to fill their own vacancies ; to appoint to offices and pro- 
fessorships ; to direct and manage the funds for the good of the 
College ; and, in general, to exercise the powers of a Collegiate 
Society, according to the jirovisions of the charter. 

The House op Convocation consists of the Fellows and Profes- 
sors of Trinity College, with all persons Avho have received any 
academic degree wliatever in the same, except such as have been 
lawfully deprived of their privileges. 

Its business is such as may from time to time be delegated by the 
Corporation, from which it derives its existence ; and is, at present, 
limited to consulting and advising lor the good of the College ; 
nominating the Junior Fellows, and all candidates for admission ad 
eundem ; making laws for its own regulation ; proposing plans, 
measures or counsel to the Corporation; and to instituting, endow- 
ing and naming, with concurrence of the same, professorships, 
scholarships, prizes, m.edals, and the like. 

The Chancellor and Visitor. Such are the titles, under which 
supervisory powers, with special reference to the moral and reli- 
gious interests of the academical body, are entrusted to the Bishop 
of the Diocese of Connecticut. 

The President. This officer, as his title imports, is the resident 
head and Rector of the College, and the Executive of ail laws for 
the disciphne of under-graduates. 

The Fellows. There are six Fellows appointed by the Corpora- 
tion alone, and six Junior Fellows, who must be Masters of Arts, 
appointed by the Corporation on nomination of Convocation ; and 
these together make the Board of Fellows. To this Board the 
Corporation commits the superintendence of the strictly academical 
business of the College ; of the course of study and examinations ; 
of the statutes and discipline ; of the library, cabinet, chapel, halls, 
grounds, collegiate dress, and the like ; and also certain powers and 
privileges in recommending for degrees. Each Fellow and Junior 
Fellow is elected tor three years ; but there is no emolument con- 
nected with the office, besides a provision for necessary expenses 



37 



incurred in its discharge. Tlie Fellows therefore, under existing 
laws, are not ordinarily resident. 

The Dean op Convocation presides in that House, and is elected 
by the same, biennially. 

The Professors hold their appointments from the Corporation, 
and by lectures and otherwise, instruct in their several depart- 
ments. With the President and Tutors, they also form a board of 
government and control over the under-graduates. 

Tutors and Lecturers are appointed from time to time by the 
Corporation to assist the professors in several departments of in- 
struction. Private Tutors have no recognized character as offi- 
cers of tiie College. 

ScHOLARSHU's. Tliesc are per uianent endowments, held by cer- 
tain under-graduates according to the terms of their foundation, and 
paying stipends of ditierent amounts to their incumbents. 

Halls. There are three buildings belonging to the College, 
which in 1845, received the name of the first three Bishops of the 
Diocese. Seabury-Hall, erected in 1825, contains the Chapel, 
and the Library, Cabinet, and other public chambers. Jarvis- 
Hall, erected in the same year, and Brownell-Hall, erected in 
1845, contain rooms for the officers and students; and one of the 
wings of the latter is the residence of a Professor and his family. 

The Grounds, on which the halls are erected, are an area of 
fourteen acres, laid out with walks, and ornamented with shade 
trees and shrubbery. The site is elevated, overlooking on one side 
the city of Hartford, within the limits of which the grounds are 
partly situated; and on the other the Little River (a branch of the 
Connecticut,) which forms their western boundary. This river is 
suitable for boating and for exercise in swimming. 

The Library and Cabinet. There are three thousand volumes 
belonging to the College, arranged in alcoves, and occupying a 
room in Seabury-Hall, in which are also the portraits of several 
officers and benelactors of the College. There are also two libraries 
belonging to societies of under-graduates, containing an aggregate 
of six thousand volumes. The cabinet is an extensive collection 
of minerals and geological specimens. A valuable philosophical 
apparatus is distributed through the lecture-rooms of the several 
professors requiruig its aid in their instructions. 

Terms. There are three terms in the year, of from twelve to 
fourteen weeks each : during whicli every under-graduate is re- 
quired to be resident, unless under special dispensation troni the 
President. 



38 

Examinations. These are held at the end of each Term, in 
presence of examiners appointed by the Fellows, from their own 
number, or otherwise ; and every under-graduate is required to be 
present and sustain his prescribed examinations at such times, un- 
less a special examination is allowed for sufficient causes. 

Vacation. The Christmas vacation is two weeks from the 
Thursday preceding Christmas day. The Easter vacation, four 
weeks from the Thursday before the 12th of April. The Long Va- 
cation is seven weeks from Commencement day. 

Commencement. The first Thursday in August is Commence- 
ment day. On the day preceding, the Corporation and House of 
Convocation assemble, and an address and poem are pubhcly pro- 
nounced before the latter. There are also academical exercises 
publicly performed by the Junior Sophisters in the evening. On 
this day all applications for degrees ad eundem must be made to 
Convocation ; and the annual elections of Fellows and Junior Fel- 
lows are usually held on this day, or on the morning following. On 
Commencement-day, candidates for degrees perform appointed 
exercises in public ; and all degrees are conferred and announced 
with prescribed forms. 

Degrees. The Corporation is authorized by its charter to confer 
degrees in the Arts, and in the faculties of Law, Medicine and Di- 
vinity. Nominations lor degrees may come from the Fellows and 
Professors, or from the House of Convocation; but the candidates 
are admitted only by vote oi the Corporation; and all degrees are 
publicly conferred in its name, by the President. 

Degrees in the faculties of Divinity and Law are conferred, at 
present, only honoris causa, or on admissions ad eundem. For 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, the candidate must have sustained 
all his examinations, and paid all fees and charges ; and must be 
nominated to the Corporation by the Fellov/s, and the Faculty of 
Arts. To proceed Master of Arts, a like nomination is requisite at 
a period of not less than three years after commencing Bachelor. 
The candidates for the degree must have performed their prescri- 
bed exercises ; and it is desirable that the President should have 
received application before the annual meeting of the Fellows. 
The right to nominate for admission ad eundem is exclusively the 
privilege 6^ the Convocation. 



MMaia 



